Come this May, it will have been twenty years since Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, a movie awaited since 1983 debuted on cinema screens. It shot to over a billion dollars worldwide on a budget of $115 million, got reviews that were about 50-50 from fans and critics, but generally went on to be perceived as a misfire, a disappointment, and depending on who you ask, either the worst or second-worst Star Wars movie to this day.

None of which deters Star Wars fans from rewatching it again and again anyway. Yes, Jake Lloyd is misdirected and miscast in the lead role, but how about that Darth Maul and his fighting skills? Aliens speak broken English in accents that sound uncomfortably close to racial stereotypes, but Ian McDiarmid's always good, right? And Jar Jar...yes, he's annoying and his cartoon "luck" is ridiculous, but when you consider that this and his dumb catchphrases will all get him wrongfully promoted to a government position of power where he understands nothing and becomes the unwitting puppet of an evil Empire, well, that seems more timely than ever somehow. Point is, there are plenty of people out there who are celebrating this movie's 20th anniversary. Among them, unsurprisingly, are the toy team at Hasbro.

Remember hitting toy stores at midnight in 1999?

Luke Y. Thompson

This year's two action figure exclusives for the recently concluded Star Wars Celebration are distinguished primarily by the packaging, as both will see wider release in very different containers later in the year. The 6-inch Black series figures of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Maul come on upscaled versions of the 3-3/4 inch figure cards that came out back in 1999. There are differences: Hasbro hasn't tried to reproduce the Commtech chips, a badly working sound gimmick they had going at the time which at least provided decent display stands (if not movie-quality quotes). And the current cards have a more deluxe foil finish, which makes them shiny, and more challenging to shoot with a flash. The 20th anniversary stickers on the figure bubbles serve to not just mark the occasion, but also hide the bonus accessories, which are packed in behind them: Extra hands for Kenobi, and an extra unhooded head for Maul.

Chopping Maul

Luke Y. Thompson

Darth Maul was one of the first four figures in the six-inch Black Series and has never been rereleased; the popularity of the character and the fact that he's a wonderfully designed and sculpted figure, have made him shoot up in value, though that may go lower now. This version is the same save one detail: his heads both use the new digital face-printing process to capture the Ray Park-in-facepaint likeness more accurately. This distinguishes him from the first release, and arguably makes him better (though you need a good eye to spot the difference); this same repaint will be released again on a Black Series Archive card later in 2019, part of the line of popular-request rereleases with the new face scans.

Rather than simply give him a cloth hooded robe, the Black Series figure gives Maul a detachable head that comes permanently attached to the outer robe, so when you take one off, you take the whole thing off, and can just pop the unhooded head on. The cloak-and-head by itself almost has its own kind of life, as if it's a floating ghost.

"Boo!"

Luke Y. Thompson

With hood, the figure's movement is extremely restricted: it's hard to make him look anything but down, and the arms can't raise high without throwing the folds out of whack. But in a neutral position, it does add many layers to Darth as a display piece. Under it, he has a skirt made of both soft plastic and fabric.

"The split saber is in no way a foreshadowing of my death."

Luke Y. Thompson

The lightsaber breaks in half, and can be clipped to his belt sans blades, but because the handle is such soft plastic it doesn't look great that way. One longs for the Episode II figures which came with metal saber hilts; even when the magnet gimmicks were awkward, the saber hilts stayed rigid and unbreakable. Finding the right pose to make this one look totally straight is tough.

"Why does everyone call me 'Night King' now?"

Luke Y. Thompson

Obi-Wan comes with alternate hands that are probably meant to mimic Force gestures, but really just look goofy. If you need a guy to photobomb your other figures with bunny ears, he's your man.

"What ever happened to Star Peace?"

Luke Y. Thompson

The new photoreal face technique is in full effect. This is a dead ringer for Ewan McGregor, even if it does look more like an older version than the 1999 babyface.

"Choose life. Choose a lightsaber."

Luke Y. Thompson

Both figures have ball-jointed necks, knees, shoulders, elbows, wrists, and even (uncharacteristically for some Black Series figures) waists. Knees are double-jointed, ankles are rocker, and there are upper-thigh cut joints. It's safe to say you can get a lot of poses out of these two.

LAAAAAA! Ha-la!

Luke Y. Thompson

If you must have the shiny cards, good luck hunting for secondary market prices. But if you just want the figures themselves in less retro boxes, both can be preordered for $19.99 at Hasbro Pulse now.